The INDEPENDENT, August 21, 2008
Page 5
Council hears from citizens, sets date for public hearing on hiring
After an executive session at
a special council meeting on
August 6, the Vernonia City
Council voted to accept a cash
offer of $67,000 for 919 Bridge
St. (known as old City Hall).
The property was originally list-
ed for $150,000, but council
subsequently asked for a new
appraisal of the property that
would take into account the
current condition of the building
and that the portion now hous-
ing a realty office would be re-
moved to allow sidewalk ac-
cess to the courtyard of the
Vernonia Community Learning
Center. The current appraisal
was for $85,000.
In accepting the offer of
$67,000, Council cited potential
loss of value if the building sits
empty through winter, and oth-
er reasons (For more informa-
tion see “Council accepts offer
for old City Hall,” page 1).
At the August 18 council
meeting, Council passed a res-
olution giving Interim City Ad-
ministrator Jim Johnson author-
ity to sign the closing papers for
the sale, which is expected to
close by the end of this month.
In Mayor Sally Harrison’s ab-
sence, the meeting was
chaired by Council President
Steve Whiteman.
Also at the August 18 meet-
ing, citizen Gene Winningham
suggested that, except for Hwy
47 (Bridge St.), Vernonia
streets should be designed to
allow for pedestrian sidewalks
on one side and multi-use
(skateboards, bikes, scooters,
wheelchairs and golf carts) on
the other. Winningham told
council that, by ordinance,
sidewalks are required on only
one side of the street. He
added that he has talked to
someone who has agreed to
write a grant for this and that
this would allow Vernonia to be-
come a “mecca for retired and
people who use alternate trans-
portation.” Since Winningham
spoke during the Topics from
the Floor portion of the meet-
ing, council is not required to
take action and did not do so.
Sandy DeWeber of D.A.D.s
Recycling gave council an up-
date of their progress in meet-
ing the move deadline of Au-
gust 31. She told council they
met with DEQ, Jim Johnson,
and Joann Glass on Tuesday,
August 12, and are working on
their suggestions, plus getting
the grass mowed on the land
they are looking at so they will
know the actual property
boundaries.
Leonard Simmons told coun-
cil that he has met with Mr.
Johnson a couple of times and
that Johnson apologized to him
for the way the city has treated
him. Simmons said he appreci-
ated the apology. He had previ-
ously told Council about his is-
sue with the city turning his wa-
ter off after he stopped paying
Rep. Wu returns to Vernonia to meet with residents
State Sen. Betsy Johnson and Congressman Davis Wu dis-
cuss local topics at meeting in Vernonia.
Congressman David Wu
was in Vernonia August 8, after
having visited Scappoose on
August 7, going door to door to
talk to citizens. In Vernonia, Wu
first joined the Oregon Solu-
tions meeting held that morning
at the Scout Cabin, before
heading to Black Bear Coffee
Company in search of Vernoni-
ans, who were in short supply
at 10:00 a.m. on that Friday.
At the Oregon Solutions
meeting, Wu heard that many
Vernonians were frustrated by
the length of time it is taking to
get a site and the funding need-
ed to move Vernonia schools
out of the flood plain. Wu told
The Independent over coffee
that he, “understands the frus-
tration of people who had wet
basements and whose kids
were bussed to Scappoose.
“It’s my job to be an advo-
cate for Vernonia…the om-
budsman. A lot of that is finding
the right box, the right fit. Tradi-
tionally, schools have been a
local responsibility. If we can
find the right box, like the
$200,000 for technology and
equipment that is under threat
of veto, we can help,” he went
on to say.
Before leaving for other
stops on his schedule, Wu said,
“I’ve been working on a lot of
things that don’t get much at-
tention, like solar power. I ob-
tained funding for community
college training for solar instal-
lation. And, put together an
amendment to use biomass –
not corn or sugar that we can
eat – but focusing on using
dead trees (which we have a lot
of) and do more research to
use the entire plant.”
Additional town halls
From page 1
first meetings.
In general, the information
provided pointed to the need
for each flood-affected home-
owner to work closely with the
Columbia County Flood Relief
staff on their specific situation.
Another meeting is sched-
uled for September 22. Watch
for information on time and place.
the extra $12.00 fee, while
Aldie Howard was interim city
administrator.
Council agreed with a pro-
posal presented by Police
Chief Mat Workman to have the
city attorney draft a resolution
adding a Training Fee to fines
imposed by the Justice Court
for crimes and violations within
the City of Vernonia. This sys-
tem is already in place in Scap-
poose ($30) and St. Helens
($20), and is used for police
training and training-related ex-
penses. Workman cited the in-
creasing amount of training,
and associated costs, being re-
quired of police officers as the
reason for the request.
In other business, council;
• approved an amended ver-
sion of a Recruitment Profile
that will be used in the hiring
process for the City Administra-
tor position.
• heard from Johnson that
city planners from other areas
(including Washington County
and Beaverton) have agreed to
serve on a steering committee
to work on Vernonia’s Master
Plan.
• agreed that Johnson
should continue to attend meet-
ings of the Vernonia Communi-
ty Learning Center committee.
The next regular meeting of
the Vernonia City Council will
be September 2 (Tuesday due
to Labor Day), at 7:00 p.m., at
City Hall, and will start with a
public hearing to take public in-
put on position requirements
for the city administrator hiring
process.